The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (episode)
With tensions and stakes high as Starfleet continues in their efforts to end the war with the Klingons, Burnham begins to settle into her new position aboard the USS Discovery. Summary Memorable quotes "You judge the creature by its appearance, and one single incident from its past. Nothing in its biology suggests it would attack, except in self-defense. Commander, this creature is an unknown alien. It can only be what it is, not what you want it to be." :- Michael Burnham, to Ellen Landry "The phaser will only piss him off." "Think of it as a placebo for my skepticism." :- Burnham and Stamets, before observing the tardigrade interacting with the spores "Let's send our Klingon friends a message they won't forget." :- Gabriel Lorca (mirror), before the USS Discovery destroys multiple Klingon ships "Hello, Michael. I hope that wherever this finds you, you are well. I imagine you have your own command now. The captain of your own ship. I have always tried to show you by example. The best way to know yourself is to know others. You are curious, an explorer. So I am leaving you my most beloved possession, handed down through my family for centuries. My hope is that you will use it to continue to investigate the mysteries of the universe, both inside and out, and keep your eyes and heart open always. Goodbye, Michael, and good luck. Know that I am as proud of you as if you were my own daughter. Take good care. But most importantly, take good care of those in ''your care." :- '''Philippa Georgiou' s recorded message, delivered posthumously to Michael Burnham Background information Title * This episode has the second longest title of all of Star Trek s more than 700 episodes, slightly shorter than the TOS episode title . Story and script * The way actress Mary Chieffo had been playing her role of L'Rell in previous installments inspired the writing of both this episode and its depiction of the character. "From what I'd been doing in episodes one and two," Chieffo explained, "writers were like, 'Oh, let's see how we can create this story.' They gave me that opportunity." ( ) * Jesse Alexander and Aron Eli Coleite were pleased to write this episode and were prompt in doing so. Referencing Lorca's manipulative shipwide broadcast of a distress call from Corvan II in this installment, Executive Producer Aaron Harberts half-jokingly commented, "We did not have to open a shipwide hail to get them to deliver on this." ( ) * Thinking of the tardigrade as essentially a metaphor for Michael Burnham – initially consumed with guilt, and feeling like she's a monster herself – led the writing staff to decide that she would befriend the animal. Aaron Harberts explained, "It seemed only fitting that she would, you know, figure out that this monster is not a monster actually; it can help." ( ) * According to Lorca actor Jason Isaacs, the episode's script didn't include any reference to Elon Musk but Isaacs himself added it, basically as a sly attempt at persuading the powers that be at Musk's company to give him a Tesla. ( ) Cast * When she first read this episode's script, Landry actress Rekha Sharma was surprised and dismayed that her character got killed off so early in the run of Star Trek: Discovery. She later joked that, if she had been given an opportunity to rewrite the character's final words, she would have had Landry say, "My bad." ( ) * Mary Chieffo was pleased with how this episode turned out. "What was beautiful about episode four," she remarked, "was that it's such a great example of the collaborative process ''.... writers wrote these great scenes, and from that we found a nuance, and an excitement. There's also a real sensitivity and heart. You get to see the sensuality. I want to say something more specific, because I'm so used to not being able to talk about things," Chieffo said, grimacing. ( ) * Shazad Latif ( ) appears only as the Klingon Voq, and is credited as Javid Iqbal. * Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou) is credited as a special guest star and appears only in a recording. Continuity * The events of this episode take place a day after and six months after the Battle of the Binary Stars. * This was the first time "uniform synthesis" was shown so closely as at the start of the episode. * ''After Trek host Matt Mira pointed out that the teaser scene featuring Saru and Burnham in a turbolift harkens back to "the McCoy/Spock of it all, where they're just constantly at odds." ( ) * This episode is the first time that Saru's "threat ganglia" have been referred to by name. They previously appeared in and . * The battle simulation for training purposes on the bridge of the is not the first time such a battle drill has been carried out on the bridge of a starship, since it is also done on the bridge of the in . A similar simulation is the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario, which, like the simulation seen here, involves the Klingons as enemy combatants. That simulation is depicted in the films and . * In the first scene set in Lorca's menagerie, what seems to be a Horta in a glass cage can briefly be seen. In all later scenes set in the same room, the cage is empty. * In Klingonese, Voq repeatedly refers to T'Kuvma in this episode as "my lord," matching how Voq addressed T'Kuvma in . Although L'Rell likewise referred to T'Kuvma using that phrase in , she instead refers to Voq as "my lord" in this installment. Her doing so, while apparently attracted to him as a potential lover, reflects Valkris addressing Kruge that way in . * L'Rell reveals that both she and Voq ate Philippa Georgiou's corpse, partially out of revenge, partially because they were on the verge of starvation. This follows Georgiou being killed in "Battle at the Binary Stars". * L'Rell's mixed heritage, with her father from the House of T'Kuvma and her mother from the House of Mo'Kai, recalls both Burnham and Spock having been raised by a Vulcan father and a Human mother. L'Rell speaking about her childhood is also the series' second depiction of Klingon childhood, after T'Kuvma's youth being portrayed in "Battle at the Binary Stars". * Being initially assumed to be a "monster" and then realized to merely be acting in self defense is not only the case with the tardigrade in this episode but also is true of the mother Horta in , the first episode to depict that creature. Matt Mira commented, "It harkens back to the ''Trek theme 'be careful, you don't really understand it. " ( ) * Corvan II was previously mentioned in , which stated that the Corvan gilvo was on the verge of extinction due to extensive industrial pollution on that planet – matching the information given in this episode that Corvan II is a major industrial hub, its mines producing forty percent of the Federation's entire dilithium supply. * The "end transmission" screen at the end of the distress call from Corvan II heavily references the cover of the ''Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, both in the logo and in the font used. * This is the first episode in which appears in the flesh; he previously appeared in "Battle at the Binary Stars", although only via holo-communicator. This episode reveals he is a member of the House of Kor. In his two appearances to date, Kol has expressed very elitist sentiments, looking down on T'Kuvma for not being a member of the upper aristocracy and on the various social outcasts, like Voq, who T'Kuvma welcomed into his House. This appears to be a call-back to , in which it was explained that Kor himself denied Martok's application to the KDF's officer corps, because his family were not nobles, but from the lowlands of Ketha Province (a poor backwater region). * This was the first episode to show the outer ring of Discovery s saucer section in rotation mode. * This episode also marks the first appearance of Discovery medical officer Hugh Culber. * Stamets threatening to quit his duties aboard the Discovery because it has been newly conscripted for war is similar to, in the alternate reality, , in , threatening to leave the because it had likewise been conscripted for military purposes. Both Stamets and Scott addressed their grievances to their commanding officer, Lorca and respectively. However, whereas Stamets is persuaded by his commanding officer to return to work, Scott wasn't, resulting in him temporarily leaving his ship. * Lorca mentions the Wright brothers, Elon Musk, and Zefram Cochrane; the first and second of these names are notable in reality and the third name is significant in the history of Star Trek. Although the Wright brothers had previously been referenced, this was the first time Musk was referred to in the entire franchise. It was also the first time Cochrane – who appears in , , and – was referred to in DIS. * The death of Ellen Landry is somewhat similar to the death of Natasha Yar in . Both women are security chiefs aboard the "hero ship" of their respective series and are unceremoniously killed off in the course of their respective series' first season. Matt Mira implied a reference to these parallels in . * By being born in 2226, Michael Burnham is revealed to be four years older than Spock, who was born in 2230 (calculated, in the alternate reality, as stardate 2230.06, as revealed in ); the year would be the same for both Spock Prime and the , since it is three years before the Narada arrived from 2387 in the turn of events that created the alternate reality. Reception and aftermath * * Exactly two weeks before this episode was released, Aaron Harberts revealed, in , that it "may" involve a remarkable-looking Klingon buffet. Precisely a week prior to the installment's release, Harberts teased, in , that the episode would feature Burnham confronting the notion that the tardigrade was virtually a metaphor for her and whether or not she was a monster. On the same episode of After Trek, the turbolift scene between Burnham and Saru debuted. * Aaron Harberts was pleased with the writing of this installment. "Aron Coleite and Jesse Alexander did a great job," he noted. ( ) * After this episode was released, Matt Mira noted that an oft-discussed topic among ''Star Trek'' s fanbase was how the installment demonstrated the Discovery using its spore drive. ( ) * A Star Trek fan himself, Matt Mira commented about the dialogue in the turbolift scene from the teaser, "That's some quality ''Trek turbolift banter .... It's great." ( ) Regarding his response to the revelation that the Klingons had consumed the remains of Philippa Georgiou, Mira admitted, "''I was emotionally a little damaged." He also approved of the apparently developing Klingon romance between Voq and L'Rell in this episode, stating, "I'm down with that." ( ) Production history * : Title publicly revealed * : Premiere airdate on CBS All Access * 9 October 2017: International release date (outside Canada and the USA) Links and references Starring * Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham * Doug Jones as Commander Saru * Shazad Latif as * Anthony Rapp as Lieutenant Paul Stamets * Mary Wiseman as Cadet Sylvia Tilly ;And * Jason Isaacs as Captain Special guest star * Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou Guest starring * Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell * Mary Chieffo as L'Rell * Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber * Kenneth Mitchell as * Rekha Sharma as Ellen Landry Co-starring * Dennis Andres as Engineer Rance * Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer * Jordana Blake as Betarian Girl * Julianne Grossman as Discovery Computer * Javid Iqbal as Voq * Sara Mitich as Airiam * Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun * Christopher Russell as Milton Richter * Tasia Valenza as Shenzhou Computer * Unknown performer as Bridge crewman Uncredited co-star * Emma Shannon as ADR voice Stand-in * Stacy-Ann Buchanan – stand-in for Sonequa Martin-Green References 2202; 2220; 2224; 2226; 2245; 2249; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Andy; Aneto system; Attack on Corvan II; auxiliary shield generator; bat'leth; Battle of the Binary Stars; battle simulation; Beacon of Kahless; Betarian; biological; black alert; Black Fleet; blockade; bloodwine; box computer; bunker; captain's log; Cardassian vole; cargo deck; central nervous system; claw; cloaking technology; ; Communications Department; containment pen; Corvan II; Corvan II inhabitants; coupling unit; crew manifest; depot; dilithium; dilithium processing unit; Dodge; duty roster; Earth; excess energy cavitation; forest; frontal lobe; frontopolar cortex; ; Gorn; gravity well; hair; Hawking radiation firewall; holographic duplicate; Horta; House Kor; House T'Kumva; ; Klingon raider; Kol's ship; L'Rell's father; L'Rell's mother; last will and testament; Legion of Honor; magnetic shield; mek'leth; micro-animal; microbiota; mirror; monster; mushroom; ; mycelial plane; nav buffer; O-type star; off-ramp; oneirogenic penthrene mist; Operation Crossroads; pain inducer; palatine bone; particulate vending; patrol ship; pattern buffer; personnel file; placebo; planetoid; poison sac; pressurizer; prison shuttle; proverb; Qo'noS; quantum mechanics; rage gland; raider; reaction cube; Ripper; Sarcophagus; scanner; science vessel; sedation protocol; ; skull; spore drive; SPT 21; Star Cross; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Command Internal Mail System; stealth protocol; stowaway; symbiosis; T'Kuvma; tardigrade; ; telescope; Tellarite; threat ganglia; Tilly's mother; Torchbearer; tribble; Vulcan Science Academy; Vulcan Scientific Legion of Honor; warship; ; ; xenoanthropologist; Zaphod External links * * * * * |next= }} de:Sprung es:The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry ru:Нож мясника не внемлет стонам агнца (эпизод) fr:The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (épisode) Category:DIS episodes